THE KING'S BLOG

I was delighted to be invited to the HBoS & Real Business Entrepreneur Summit yesterday in London.

Lots of interesting discussion - increase of CGT, effect of tax on non doms, and the apparent death of manufacturing in the UK...

Click here to see what some really top people thought about that final statement, put forward by James Caan, and what 'Rob' King had to say...

Italy and Germany make things, as do Japan and the USA. And Great Britain was the very first. And as a hybrid engineer aspiring yacht designer who's in the shaving business, I'll be making sure we make plenty of things for many years to come.

James, let me give you the King of Shaves with the King of Blades at our new grooming room at Ted Baker & Friends, and get you to change your mind!

As reported today, inspired by the image below (and a lot more to be revealed) the 'King of Blades' is coming.


Get ready to Shave Different. Sign up here to keep in touch

As seen in one of the UK's leading retailers. Gillette are pushing so much Fusion into the market, that it isn't being sucked out (bought) by consumers. Maybe consumers have twigged that £2.50 per replacement cartridge is more than expensive, it's obscene.
King of Blades is coming

The Aston Martin DB7 is widely credited as the most beautiful GT car built, ever. Designed in Britain by Ian Callum, built in Britain in Newport Pagnell. Powerful. Stylish. Iconic. Just like our 'King of Blades' will be. Be inspired. Shave different. Expect better. Coming soon. King of Blades.

I don't really understand the disposable razor. And I certainly don't rate expensive disposable razors - see one of my earlier blogs on the 'Bic Mach3'.

Why chuck away an otherwise perfectly good plastic handle, just because the blades are blunt. It doesn't make sense - especially from an environmental perspective, the new brand battleground which companies are still in the dark ages about.

I say,"Why not take the best of the system razor (ie Gillette Mach3, Quattro or Fusion - without the cost) and the best of the disposable (lightness, cheapness to manufacture) and bring the two together? Surely that makes sense?"

King of Blades. Coming soon. And, as for giving 2 extra disposable razors away free, I'm sure Mr. Landfill is saying "Thanks a bunch."

Be one of the first to 'Choose different, shave better, save money'.. Get in the know here

This is an interesting blog post. Read it here. The phrase 'shaving simplicity' resonates with us, for we too feel that the cost of modern shaving satisfaction is too much. Shaving with a 1904 Merkur will not be to everyone's taste, as although you can certainly save money, you will certainly have to shave with more care, as the shave safety engineering then was simply not as safe as it is today (no arguing from the DE guys please), but the points the author makes are solid ones.

King of Blades. Shaving simplicity will rule!

Check this posting out. interesting, eh.
You spend all that money (sorry, men, buying Gillette Fusion at £2.50/replacement blade allow Gillette to spend all that money) and it doesn't exactly get traction from the very people you want to buy your proudcts.

The marketers have taken over at Gillette.

And not in a good way.

Arrogance breeds complacency. Complacency delivers broken business models and failure. You read it here first.

Simon has posted an interesting blog piece comparing Apple's recent designs with those of Braun, the German company renowned for its adherence to the 'Form follows Function' philosophy.

I worked with Braun in the early 1990's on a number of product launches (I was involved in business development in conference & event production then) and Braun was a great client, launching innovative products in impactful ways. A Braun brief was a delight to event producers!

I list below ten design 'commandments' that have made Braun (and Apple) successful.

• Good design is innovative.
• Good design makes a product useful.
• Good design is aesthetic.
• Good design helps us to understand a product.
• Good design is unobtrusive.
• Good design is honest.
• Good design is durable.
• Good design is consequent to the last detail.
• Good design is concerned with the environment.
• Good design is as little design as possible.

And I hope that what you see from us with WKoHamat 08 meets these criteria. My design team and I believe it does - shaving simplicity rules.

It's bad enough when you can't buy the house you want to, nor borrow the money you need to, because the US 'sub-prime' crisis has enveloped the world of lending, leading to the 'Credit Crunch'.

But when you see the Crunch-o-meter has five segments, just like a Gillette Fusion and you see how expensive it is (£2.50 a replacment blade anyone?) then perhaps Fusion should come with a 'Blade-o-Meter' warning - a sort of Calorie counting device, which lets you know just how much it's going to damage your wealth...!

Note: the Blade-o-Meter is pointing to fairer shaving, where of course 'King of Blades' will be!

King of Blades. My Pledge is Coming.
(Crunchometer courtesy 'The Times' newspaper, Thursday May 1st 2008)

I'm was at my parents this weekend with my son and Dad often has a little gift or something for Cameron or me that's caught his eye.

This time, he gave me a model of a Piper Tomahawk (which he has been flying for the past year and a half, out of Beccles Airfield near Lowestoft - he's 76, and learned to fly a couple of years ago). It's in the 'King of Shaves' colours - King Air perhaps!!!

For those in the know, especially the guys at NetNewsAsia, I have had a website WKoHamat 08 up for most of the year, which they correctly deduced was an anagram for Tomahawk, the project codename for our launch.

So, as reported by the Mail on Sunday here a few weeks ago, the King of Blades is coming! Sign up to know more here. And for even more 'early bird detail, become a King of Shaves fan on Facebook here.

PS - the card behind it was produced in 1993, for the Whitbread Round The World Race, where King of Shaves oil was taken by Matt Humphries, skipper of the Whitbread 60 'Reebok/Dolphin & Youth' round the world. And the message then is the same as it is now - King of Shaves is "Essential Shaving Around The World". But there's another story there, another time...!

I've blogged about this before, but as it's been picked up on again by Gizmodo, I couldn't resist revisiting it one more time! Last time. I promise Click here to read about why you need a headlight to get a close shave. Or, rather why you don't. Where King of Blades is concerned, we associate lightbulbs with clever, innovative, creative, imaginative designers and engineers. Not with headlamps for razors. Those are for people who need their brains testing! King of Blades PS - check out the comments people have posted too ;-)

My friend 'Thingfish' at NetNewsAsia has been following progress on our upcoming launch. Here's his latest posting:
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16 Hybrid Synergy System Raz?
Written by thingfish, on 08-05-2008 17:39
If Microsoft made razors, there's no question they'd be making the Gilette Fusion Power - ugly, bloated with unwanted features, uses far more power than necessary and the only option available.

One request though - if you're aiming to produce the shaving equivalent of an iMac, don't start off with the first generation in bubble gum colours.
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'Thingfish' - trust me, bubble gum colours ain't where we're at. Gillette's about the colour of money. We're about shaving simplicity, as black and white as that.

Have you ever wondered what happens to the hundreds of millions, literally billions, of disposable razors that are chucked away after one or two simply awful shaves? Well, watch this space, because we're going to be taking a close look at the absurdity of the disposable razor in the 21st century.

And if you think you're shaving money in using a disposable, then think of your face....and think again. Have a quick read of one person's opinion here.

Disposable? No! Reusable & Renewable? Forever, Yes! King of Blades.

Interesting article on Page 12 in today's Sunday Times, about profit margins on packaged consumer goods. And what tops the list? Yes, you guessed it - Gillette Fusion razor blades. Seems it's not just me who notices these things, but journalists Jon Ungoed-Thomas and Georgina Warren too! King of Blades is coming!

here
King of Blades

But look closer through the layers of this over-packaged overbladed razor. Once you've got the handle, they've got you - with replacement blades at £2 a time, Gillette Fusion will damage your wealth as Stealthily as smoking damages your health.

There is an alternative. The new King of Shaves hybrid synergy system razor. The King of Blades is coming, soon. Prepare to shave closer, longer, for less. Now, doesn't that take the sting out of shaving?

Product shot taken in Asda High Wycombe, Saturday 17th May 2008. (It 'asda be worth waiting for the KoB surely?)